Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Delhi Metro Phase III gets bigger, to cover Jamia, Faridabad

The extension of the Delhi Metro network just got bigger. According to E Sreedharan, the head of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), phase III of the network will cover 105km now, instead of the proposed 70km earlier. "After incorporating suggestions from the Delhi government, we have realigned some of the corridors. Now, we will be going into outer Delhi areas like Bawana as well as touch Jamia Milia Islamia university," said the Metro Man.

Phase III, which will cost Rs 28,000 crore for the Delhi extensions, is expected to be completed by March 2016 and will include neighboring localities like Faridabad and Noida too. Said Sreedharan, "Funding for the extension into Faridabad will cost Rs 3,000 crore more while that into Ghaziabad and Bahadurgarh (the farthest station) will be an additional Rs 12,000 crore." While the funding pattern for the project is yet to be decided, the majority of the costs will be borne by respective state governments. For Delhiites, the good news is that the work on phase III is expected to start within a few months. Added the DMRC chief, "There will be 23 interchanging stations in this phase, a huge jump from the three interchanging stations that phase II had."

The changes in the corridors are going to connect the city in a circle, said Sreedharan. "The Kalindi Kunj line for instance, will be extended till Noida (Botanical Garden). The Noida extension will be paid for by the Noida authority," he added. The major corridors in phase III include Yamuna-Mukundpur, covering 46km while the Kalindi Kunj-Janakpuri will be 32km. The Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate will be covering 9.5km and the Jehangirpuri-Badli line will cover 5.5km. Perhaps the biggest addition is the coverage of Jamia Milia Islamia university, which will extend from Nehru Place and will cover the outer Ring Road. Kalkaji will be the interchange station on this line. It is also expected to cater to a large catchment area of the university and neighbouring schools.

The phase III extension starts off with connecting the various existing lines, said Sreedharan, starting with the extension of the Central Secretariat-Badarpur line on to Delhi Gate, with a massive extension of the existing Mandi House station, which will become a new interchanging station, said DMRC officials. This particular line is worth Rs 450 crore and includes others stations: Janpath, Mandi House and Delhi Gate.